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Obviously, I don't want to be too emotional. I just kind of want to use my energy on the court so I can just be able to be effective on both ends of the floor.
Don't get me wrong - any team in the league, I'm blessed to be on. But to be the team that you dreamed about as a little kid, it's just that much more special.
I know this sounds arrogant or cocky or like I'm selling myself, but even on the court now, I don't think anybody can stop me. I just have that much confidence.
I think in Phoenix Phoenix is like the run and gun team. We used to do a drill where we'd try to score in the first seven seconds. We used to do that in practice.
I get judged a lot. Maybe because of the way I talk, the way I look, I'm real quick to say a lot of stuff that maybe people don't understand because that's just me.
Instead of me going out and having eight shot attempts with six 3s, let me see if I can have just four 3s and attack the basket and try to get fouls and rebound better.
I've seen young guys break down in those situations. They're cruising along, playing great, then their minutes get funky and they fall apart. Some of them never recover.
I'm just getting a lot more opportunity than I got my second year in Phoenix. Here defensively with the Heat, I'm on a lot more tough defensive assignments. They trust me.
I was able to take some time off with my family, my friends, get a better look at what I can do to be a better player on the court. It's been a good little process for me.
At times I was like, 'I'm too tired. I don't want to work out today.' I've been thinking about those moments. Looking back at the mistakes I did make, I wish I could do better.
Certain games aren't going to be my game. Certain games aren't going to be other people's games. As long as we win with the main goal to make the playoffs, that's all that matters.
You know the famous quote, sometimes you have to be ready so you don't have to get ready. I do a lot of things that, it's like, off the camera, that a lot of people don't see me do.
Even before I made my high school team, I'd say I want to be a NBA player, and people laughed at me with, 'Get out of here, you ain't going to be a NBA player. You don't even play basketball.'
When you see the neighborhood that you grew up in being underwater, either you can sit down and look like everybody else, or you can get up and go try to help somebody that needs to be helped.
I think I did that in my career, in Boston and Miami, being ready to play and at the same time when your number is not called, be ready to support your teammates, go out and be productive while not playing.
So, I just always try to prepare myself like I'm going to play even when I wasn't going to play. And when I wasn't playing, my thing is, I was always enjoying the team's success, always enjoying somebody else's success.
I'm never going to stop because I had a bad game. I'm never going to stop because somebody thinks that I can't do something. I'm going to always play the way I feel I should play, because I wouldn't have got to here if I felt like I couldn't.
This is what I've dreamed about man. Putting this jersey on is a straight honor. Me being from Houston I'm giving it my heart and my everything because this is what I grew up watching and grew up wanting to be a part of. It's just an honor to play for this team.
As a player you do kind of see you might need to get something going. Maybe it's diving on the ball, diving on the floor for a loose ball. Or maybe it's something that'll just energize the team, a lob dunk or a great pass or a great defensive play or an open shot, anything.
They'll touch you and look at your skin to see if it's paint. I'm not playing. All Russia is not like that. You've got your big cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg. Some cities understand that there are black people. They do exist. But the smaller cities, the little villages, they've never seen it.